Scottsdale Mayor Herb Drinkwater denies a serious conflict exists. Makil and Drinkwater have fought most often over a north-south artery called Pima Road. The east side of the road belongs to the Pimas; the west lane, to Scottsdale. One day a few decades ago, Scottsdale paved the Indian side of the road without obtaining permission from the Pimas.
"That was disrespectful," says Makil.
The Pimas filed a trespass suit, and won.
But that wasn't the end of the drama. In 1986, the Pimas closed the road for eight months when the two parties couldn't agree on a lease. The city turned its side of the road over to the transportation department, which then agreed to lease the Indian side of the road for two years at $435,000 a year.
Ivan Makil was tribal spokesman back then. He kept telling the newspapers that Scottsdale had failed to show the proper respect.
When the Outer Loop deal was signed, the Indians granted the state a 55-foot right of way to widen Pima Road to three lanes.
Then Scottsdale wanted to widen it to four lanes, which meant road builders would have to take an additional ten-foot-wide strip of Indian land.
That didn't sit well with the community. "People say what's the problem, the Indians have all that land over there," says Makil. "But now, five years after the Outer Loop agreement was signed, they want to take more land. It's not just ten feet of land to us. It's a fight to preserve our land base."
The Pimas and Scottsdale are still engaged in mano a mano struggle over Pima Road, but it appears that another long-term battle between Scottsdale and the Indians has finally been settled.
Back in 1993, the Pimas decided to bid on 700 acres of land that includes picturesque Saddleback Mountain, which is located just inside the city limits of northeast Scottsdale.
The land was to be auctioned off by the Resolution Trust Corporation, and the Indians reportedly put in the highest bid. But the day before the auction, Scottsdale filed suit against the RTC in federal court, seeking to condemn the land so the Indians couldn't buy it. The word was that Scottsdale was terrified the Indians would set up a casino within the city limits. The Indians intervened in the lawsuit, claiming that Scottsdale couldn't interfere with their bid to buy the mountain. Two years later, Scottsdale and the Indians appear to be reaching an out-of-court settlement that would require federal legislation. If the settlement is signed and legislation is passed, Drinkwater and Makil both hint, the Indians would keep most of the land, while Scottsdale would maintain control of Shea Boulevard--a provision apparently aimed at staving off more road conflicts. The way Ivan Makil sees it, the two-year fur fight could have been avoided if Scottsdale had talked, instead of racing off to court. "We deserve to receive a phone call instead of reading about these things in the paper.
"I think they would rather ignore us," Makil says. "But I think they are starting to respect us.
